Easily distracted by shiny objects.

October 21, 2017

We were so amused

Trump. Well, who's laughing now? I think the libertine left have a lot to answer for here. The New York mass media just loved him. He was a local joke, the son of a couple of immigrant rubes who made their money stiffing minority groups and who hung out with Russian gangsters. Patricians like Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair, (who called him the short fingered vulgarian) are furious at him, but didn't they have a lot to do with amplifying his message? They were in media central: They normalized the kind of stuff Trump goes in for, which sneers at and undercuts the concerns of ordinary people, most of whom, I believe, are simple enough just to want a nice job, a family and a home.

All the elements that go into stabilizing life for families are now under a full-on attack by this swamp creature and his enablers. Women are being vilified, submerged, impoverished and driven crazy by all the insecurity. Holding families together has never been harder, and there is little glory in the attempt. Still, the carnival goes on. I predict a backlash, when people really understand how they have been robbed of a full life.

The homeless situation is getting so bad here that the tourists are starting to ask residents what is going on. Where are all the good Christian people who will take care of them? . I want to pay taxes and have trained social workers, etc. dealing with these calamitous people. But that would mean good government. I did a lot of work in my younger years in shelters, but now I have my own canoe to paddle.

What we get around here are fund raisers like the pink ribbon events for breast cancer patients. I see a river of money flowing along, with the people at the source taking most of it. By the time it reaches the ostensible beneficiaries, it has become a trickle. But hey, people want to feel good about themselves.They get a t-shirt, some exercise, and the chance to learn a few facts about the afflicted, such as that young people can get breast cancer. Buildings will be built. Researchers will do research. It will feel like a grand enterprise to be involved in, And in the words of several breast cancer patients I follow on Twitter, "Where's the cure?" (Confession: I can't quite give up on Twitter yet. It is too useful for instant news.)

There have been some advances in treatment since she wrote this, with targeted gene therapy, etc.

I am getting annoyed at the reaction to cancer I see in some people and am now understanding why many with cancer choose not to talk about it. After all, I remember back to the time when there was a supposed "cancer smell" that it was contagious and that people got cancer because they did not have the right mental attitude. There was said to be something called the "cancer personality." (Now it's "lifestyle." You didn't eat the right things, etc.) And the treatments were horrible.. But I think it's a mistake not to talk about cancer, even if it makes others uncomfortable. Their discomfort is not nearly as bad as mine! Luckily I have familly and close friends who know the drill having had cancer themselves or having helped with friends and family.

Oh,my cousin and aunt, who live in Napa, are fine. I got a call from my cousin, and she said the houses across the street were evacuated, but they did not have to go. Her whole house smells like smoke.

I imagine your homeless situation is much like ours in San Francisco: too much money chasing too little housing so the most vulnerable (and often damaged and intractable) get forced out. When there are enough of them, they become visible and then are perceived as a "crisis." I suspect from their point of view, the crisis was a long time ago ... and the damage is daily life. The solution to homelessness is housing, but we simply don't generate enough housing for all the people in some (most?) places.

Yes, people look askance at those of us with chronic illnesses, too, sure that we caused our own illnesses by not choosing the right lifestyle. I've been told by acquaintances that I have the debilitating auto-immune illness that I have because I'm "too rigid" about plant-based, whole-food eating and "not rigid enough." I've been told I had trigeminal neuralgia because I was a "Type A" person. I guess my brain surgery last year to decompress the trigeminal nerve also took care of my Type A personality, then! I'm sorry that this message is being delivered to you subtly or blatantly, knowingly or unwittingly. It's an isolating message at a time when you most need to feel connected.